State, feds split on ed standards

Monday

Mar 10, 2014 at 6:00 AM

By Clive McFarlane TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Since the state's Education Reform Act of 1993, there have been ongoing curriculum changes and test development, all aiming to align classroom learning with the social, political and economic realities of the time.

The process has understandably been cantankerous, given that the main policymakers — the local community, the state and the federal government — are often at odds over what children should know and be able to do.

As the pressure to produce higher academic achievement built, so too has the acrimony between those pressing for greater local control over education and those believing that the state and federal governments have an obligation to demand minimum education standards for all students.

While there are legitimate areas of dispute and concern between the two sides, there is a right and a wrong way to address those grievances.

On Thursday night the Worcester public schools gave us an example of the wrong way, when members revolted against what has long been a standard operating procedure in almost all industries — the field testing of a product before it is marketed.

In this case, Massachusetts, working with officials from other states, helped to design new and national education standards, the Common Core State Standards. The new standards come with an assessment test called Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.

Field testing new exams is a standard procedure and the state plans to do just that with PARCC this spring in 300 Massachusetts districts, including Worcester.

Now, whether or not one dislikes standardized testing, or the feds' involvement in education, there shouldn't be any debate that if the new assessments are to become law, they should first be field tested for fairness and accuracy.

But driven by their ideological stance on standardized testing and on the federal government's involvement in education, two parents, Ed. Moynihan and former School Committee member Donna Colorio, pushed the board into voting to give parents the option of not allowing their children to take part in the field testing on the new exams.

The board will ask the state to honor its vote, but the state has already told other districts taking similar stances that there is no opt-out clause on the field testing. This hasn't stopped the two parents from pushing their agenda.

"I just have this problem of allowing my children to be field tested on something that isn't going to add to their education," Mr. Moynihan said.

"The developers of PARCC are using our children as guinea pigs in testing their product."

J.C Considine, chief of staff for the state Department of Education, dismissed such claims, noting field tests will be "low stakes and stress free."

"We are testing the test, not the students," he said. "They are helping us build the best test we can."

That is as straightforward as it gets.

I get it that some people don't like the new standards, although Linda Noonan, executive director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, will tell you that 70 percent of teachers who have received training in the new standards said they will help their students succeed.

I do not get, however, how barring one's children from taking the PARCC field test addresses, in a meaningful way, concerns over the new standards.

Indeed, the School Committee's opt-out vote not only trivialized legitimate debate over education standards, but also marginalized young people's role in helping to create a richer and more equitable learning environment for themselves.